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Indiana University is making plans to
finish the basketball season without Kelvin Sampson. The coach of the
Hoosiers is not expected to be with the team when they play at
Northwestern Saturday.

A source close to the situation tells
Eyewitness Sports that officials from the IU administration have met
with assistant basketball coach Dan Dakich about taking over the
basketball team as interim head coach for the rest of the season.

Dakich
began this season in an administrative position with the team. He
became an assistant coach when assistant coach Rob Senderoff resigned
in October for his involvement in improper phone calls to recruits.
Dakich is a former IU player and assistant coach under Bob Knight.

Athletic
director Rick Greenspan must make a recommendation to the president by
Friday regarding Sampson's future and the NCAA allegations. The program
is accused of five possible major recruiting violations, and Sampson is
accused of lying to IU and the NCAA about it.

The source says
that by Friday afternoon, Sampson and the university will likely reach
a financial settlement ending his employment, or Sampson will be
suspended pending termination under the terms of his contract.

That's pretty much what we've been hearing all along. Look for a press conference on Friday at some point as the suspension pending termination is the likely avenue. This means that Sampson will have ten days to 'appeal' this decision and state his case. Thus, the earliest he could be 'fired' is March 3rd. This falls in line with what we've been telling you guys since earlier in the season, so it should come as no surprise. It is doubtful that Sampson would take a 'buy-out', if it's even an option based on his contract, since that would pretty much seem to be an admission of guilt, which he doesn't want to do.

(UPDATE FROM IDS:) IU spokesman Larry McIntyre told the IDS the University is expecting to hold a
press conference tomorrow to discuss the future of IU coach Kelvin
Sampson.

"We are sort of assuming on the basis that there is likely to be
something," McIntyre said.

Additionally, McIntyre told the IDS that
faculty athletic representive Bruce Jaffee and University general counsel
Dorothy Frapwell had lunch with IU President Michael McRobbie, but did not know
the agenda of the lunch.

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Dakich is a former kid from the 'Region' as he graduated from Andrean High School. This really means little other than he is was an Indiana boy even before he played at IU under Bobby Knight. He's best remembered for being an IU captain his junior and senior years in Bloomington and for guarding Michael Jordan when IU ended his collegiate basketball career.

Dakich last coached at Bowling Green University last season where after a decade on the job he finished with a 156-140 career record. Most recently he was the IU Director of Men's Basketball Operations before moving down to the bench to help out when Rob Senderoff left the program.

Good to hear that it should be over soon. Will Dakich be the next Steve Fischer with the situaton of taking over late in the season and winning it all? Na, that's taking it a bit too far. It would be a great story though.

Just got off the phone with the Dept. of Media Relations and they were unwilling to confirm a time or the existence of a press conference. It took me several tries to get through. I accept the idea that they may not know about it but I have heard that there has been a steady buzz about it in the Hall all day. Win lose or draw, Bruce Paine is willing to be on hand to ask Greenspan this question,

"Since you are in charge of the Athletics Department, do feel at all culpable for the situation Indiana University now finds itself in and, if so, do you feel remorse that your hiring practices have besmirched the otherwise pristine record of Indiana University basketball?"

There will be a press conference tomorrow. The committee has made their decision and have run it by McRobbie today. The players already know about it. It's not uncommon for IU spokespeople to give the run around.

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